Polling memo: Planned Parenthood's anti-Romney ads leave a mark

By Alexander Burns

07/09/12 06:16 AM EDT

Women are far more likely to support President Obama and voice doubts about Mitt Romney after being exposed to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s recent anti-Romney ad campaign, according to a survey commissioned by the women’s health and abortion rights group.

The poll, conducted by Hart Research Associates and shared with POLITICO, tested female voters in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Des Moines, Iowa, to gauge the impact of the PPAF ads. The group announced at the end of May that it was spending over $1 million on an initial wave of commercials hitting Romney in Florida, Iowa and Virginia.

In both Des Moines and West Palm Beach, voters appear to have shifted toward Obama after seeing the ads. Obama led by 11 points among West Palm Beach women who did not recall seeing the ads, but by 28 points among women who did recall seeing them. In Des Moines, Obama and Romney were tied at 39 percent among women who didn’t recall seeing the ads, but Obama led by 28 points among women for whom the ads left an impression.

The ads have gained significant notice in the markets tested in the poll: half of women in West Palm Beach and 55 percent of women in Des Moines say they definitely recall seeing the commercials. Those women have moved away from Romney.

It’s possible that women who were likely to remember the ads were also more likely to be sympathetic to Obama, to begin with. Still, we’re talking about a significant gap in perceptions of Romney and Obama, suggesting at the very least that the ads are having an impact.

The Hart Research poll shows that Romney’s overall image has shifted in a negative direction among women since the ad campaign began. The percentage of women saying Romney is “out of step with my opinions” on issues affecting women went from 51 percent to 62 percent in West Palm Beach, and 49 percent to 60 percent in Des Moines.

“The data make clear that the key themes raised by the ads not only break through with these women voters but also stay with them to form a lasting impression,” the Hart Research polling memo concludes. “Nearly half of women voters in each market report having heard things in the past few weeks that make them feel less favorable toward Mitt Romney, and without referencing PPAF’s ads their volunteered responses reiterate the ads’ key points.”

The memo continues: “In fact, three of the five most frequently volunteered responses are criticisms of Mitt Romney that come directly from the ads (specifically his desire to overturn Roe v. Wade, his stand on women’s issues including equal pay, and his intent to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood.”

The seven-figure sum that PPAF has spent on the ads is modest in the context of a national race, but as of this weekend they’re also not the only group delivering that message: the Obama campaign is up with swing-state commercials saying Romney would “cut off funding for Planned Parenthood.”